<p>Hey there, I'm looking for advice on "finishing" the SAT. My son has taken the SAT and the ACT, and he struggles with time and does not seem to be able to finish each section before time runs out. For example, on the ACT, he said there were 60 Math questions, and 60 minutes to complete the section. He ended up totally guessing on the last 4 questions. Similar thing on the Reading. Any suggestions on how best to navigate through the test with the best utilization of time?</p>
<p>Thanks,!</p>
<p>Practice?..</p>
<p>Thats like asking how marathon runners run marathons...</p>
<p>^ lolz. agreed.</p>
<p>I would suggest timing practice tests he takes. That should give him a better sense of time and how much of it he's got left.</p>
<p>However, since problems increase in difficulty (and, in most cases, time needed to finish them and get the right answer) as you move on in a section and they're all worth the same number of points, if he can't seem to finish certain sections the best thing might just be for him to do as many of the easier ones as he can fit, since he's more likely to get them right.</p>
<p>@@shiomi, Quiz, hookem168 --
come on guys, don't act so-stuck up and seasoned. This forum is for helping each other (especially newcomers), not for putting down.</p>
<p>
^this strategy nevertheless works for many people: pick your own battles.</p>
<p>For reading, i suggest just practice speed reading. Pick an article from a well-known and well-respected newspaper or magazine and just read it as fast as possible. Over time, your son's reading will improve which will give him slightly more time to figure out questions. For math however, i can only suggest practice.</p>
<p>Sorry, I wasn't trying to act seasoned or stuck-up or anything like that, but I really think the only way to improve the times is by taking more and more timed practice tests.</p>
<p>^I agree, but you can practice until blue in the face not getting much improvement. Would you start simply running 26+ miles every day hoping to win the Olympics?
As one music teacher I know says:
Practice makes perfect - but only if practice is perfect.</p>
<p>It's important to keep in mind that the goal is not necessarily to finish but to pace one's self properly, so that every question is at least given a proper look. Most of us are conditioned to FINISH every exam that is put before us, but the SAT should NOT be approached with the same objective. Too much emphasis on answering every question is not good for most people's scores.</p>
<p>To drive home the point that skipping is OK, I like to remind my students that completion isn't even necessary for a "perfect" score, or that a person could skip up to 18 questions and still score 2100. Knowing that you don't have to finish every question takes a lot of pressure off.</p>
<p>So the key to proper pace is dead simple: don't get stuck on any one question, ever. Which is to say that since every question carries the same value regardless of difficulty, it makes no sense to spend a disproportionate amount of time on any one question until the whole section's been looked at, and every easy/medium question already completed.</p>
<p>The concept of omitting questions for the purpose of maximizing score is foreign to most people and it takes practice to get used to and to trust. And I see a lot of kids wasting points because they haven't practiced this crucial decision-making process enough. And under the gun it's hard to trust any strategy that hasn't been properly tested and rehearsed.</p>
<p>So, to establish good pace a student must 1) realize that skipping over SAT questions is perfectly OK and 2) develop the reflex to skip over questions confidently and decisively.</p>
<p>Good pace is as simple as that. I never want my students to watch the clock during an exam. So I tell them that as long as they NEVER allow themselves to get stuck on any one question, they'll at least get a fair look at every question in a section before time is up.</p>
<p>Bottom line: don't get stuck on any one question, ever. Just skip it. If there's time leftover at the end, great have another go at it, but if not, who cares, it's only one point.</p>